Washington Hotel Tart Cherry Crepes

Dietians will tell you tart cherries are bursting with nutrition, but these puppies are packed with so much flavour you’ll think about how good they taste, not how good they are for you. I admit, I wasn’t much of a tart cherry fan until I went to Door County Wisconsin and was shown a world beyond cherry pie.

While there, I attended a cooking lesson at The Washington Hotel where we made tart cherry crepes and the accompanying lemon balm ice cream. This recipe is courtesy of chef Leah Caplan, who cooks up a storm with local offerings. I’ll share the ice cream recipe later, but in the meantime, feel free to substitute a good quality French vanilla.

So pull out the blender, pit a pint of Montmorency cherries and channel your inner chef. Even Special Agent Dale Cooper would be willing to forego the cherry pie just this once.

Washington Hotel Tart Cherry Crepes
Printable recipe

Makes about a dozen

Crepes

• 2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup bread flour
• 1/2 cup stone ground whole wheat flour
• 1 1/4 cup milk
• 3 eggs
• 2 tbsp oil

Instructions

1. Mix sugar, salt and flours together.
2. Combine milk, eggs and oil in a blender.
3. Add flour mixture and blend well.
4. Let batter rest 30 minutes. This relaxes the flour gluten so the crepe is more tender. (Can be done the night before and refrigerated overnight.)
5. Heat a non-stick or crepe pan over medium-high heat until hot. Oil the pan very lightly by adding a few drops of oil and wiping with a paper towel.
6. Ladle in enough batter to thinly coat bottom of pan, rolling the pan to distribute the batter.
7. Cook until the edges start to curl and the centre is dry. This should take less than a minute.
8. Flip and cook about 10 seconds to finish the crepe.
9. Slide crepe onto a sheet of waxed paper. You can stack crepes once they cool.

Tart Cherry Sauce

• 2 1/2 cups tart cherries
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1/2 vanilla bean (or 2 tsp vanilla extract)
• 1/4 tsp dried or fresh lavender (optional)
• 1/4 cup vodka
• 1 tbsp butter, sweet is best

Instructions

1. Heat cherries, honey, vanilla bean (not vanilla extract) and lavender in a pan over medium-high heat. Simmer to reduce the liquid.
2. Once vanilla bean is pliable, scrape seeds into sauce and discard pod.
3. Add vodka. If using vanilla extract, add it now, too. Continue cooking sauce until reduced again.
4. Add butter at end and gently stir to distribute.

Assemble crepe:

1. Fold crepe in quarters.
2. Spoon sauce over crepe.
3. Top with ice cream.